In the summer of 2008 I was in Spain (in Malaga, near the citadel) the evening Spain beat Germany to win the European cup. (I was in Ronda when Spain beat Italy in the quarter finals, first victory over Italy in 34 years, the little fountain in the Plaza del Socorro was a bit destroyed.) Nadal had some splendid victories, and Alonso too. Zapatero said Spain would soon surpass Italy in average income per capita.

It was a glorious summer for Spain.

At the end of that summer some big building societies started to collapse and 5 years later all seems to have changed for the worse for Spain. Unemployment nearing 27 %, people put out of their houses, wage/pension cuts, and Rajoy hiding in Moncloa.

Germany the economic power-house of Europe, and set to dominate football the coming years.

But, luckily, by the time the economic crisis starts hitting Germany (and Holland and little lovely Austria and Finland) in earnest, Spain will start to recover.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have a new king, Ajax league winners for the third time in a row , Sylvie left Raffy, Raffy now with ex of Khalid, Estelle still with Badr, Moszkowicz having probs, Eva still blonde, Sascha to leave, Annechien to come. And we have a ‘housing’ deal, a ‘social’ deal and a ‘healthcare’ deal. And (now with all them deals) you gotta help your granny because the state ain’t gonna do it no more.

They played 11 knock-out games in the last 3 big tournaments. And guess how many (field)goals they got against ? The answer: 0. This is not a way of playing anymore, this is pure zen ! Well done lads !